Rob and Rachel Jonas lost their Marquez Knolls home and are asking for new legislation, which would allow those with mortgage payments longer forbearance than a year.
Before Rachel Jonas and Rob Fagnani lost their Marquez Knolls home in the Palisades Fire, they never imagined they’d be lobbying for federal laws for mortgage relief, not only for themselves, but for all U.S. residents who lose homes in a natural disaster.
The parents of two small children, Jonas/Fanani want to rebuild and come back to Pacific Palisades. But like many of their neighbors, they have a mortgage for a home that no longer exists.
They like many Palisades/Altadena residents, are also now paying rent or staying with family, while trying to save money to rebuild. “We kept thinking, ‘Someone must be working on this, right?’ But when we realized no one was pushing for federal legislation, we knew we had to step up,” the couple said. “This is too important to wait for someone else to fix.”
After the fire, they received mortgage forbearance, which means the money still needs to be repaid, but payments are temporarily placed on hold. AB 238 was a California law signed in 2025, that gives wildfire survivors up to 12 months of mortgage forbearance and requires loans be reported as current, so credit scores aren’t harmed.
January 2026 is the deadline for that forbearance, but a year is not long enough. Typically, it takes two to four years to rebuild, which includes insurance claims processing, permits and planning and actual construction.
The couple did a survey of more than 130 mortgage holders across the Palisades and Altadena and found that 80 percent of those people are underinsured, and 60 percent are facing insurance delays.
The balloon payments average between $50K to more than $100K. Starting January 1, some families may now face lump-sum payments while still displaced and still trying to rebuild.
Jonas/Fagnani are asking others (family, friends) who are in the same situation to lobby U.S. Congress for a fix: 1) extend forbearance to 24 to 36 months for federally declared disasters (not just for Southern California) and 2) Defer payments to the end of the loan instead of requiring lump-sum balloon payments, while protecting credit sources.
“January 2026 sounds far away, but it’s less than two months,” Rachel said. “If our federal government doesn’t act now, we’re going to see a wave of foreclosures in our community. This is fully preventable, and an easy fix.”
Rob added, ” ““This isn’t a bailout. It’s a timeline fix – let us shift deferred payments to the end of the loan at current rates, which benefits banks too, and protect credit scores in the process. That’s not asking for too much.”
To help not only Palisades/Altadena residents, but also those across the United States who have been impacted by natural disasters, write U.S. Representatives and Senators.
Rachel stresses that on the website there is an AI advocacy tool (https://disastermortgagerelief.hilltop-app.com/) where people can literally just enter a sentence or two about why they care about this (e.g., “I lost my home in the fire” or “I have a friend who lost a home” or “I live in a flood zone” etc.) and a letter will then auto populate to send directly to their elected officials’ offices.
“I want to highlight the ease of this because it’s so much simpler and quicker than having to send an email/letter the old fashioned way,” she said.
Other information can be found on the website click here. If you’re active on social media, share the website to amplify the message.
“Write to your representatives today and help us set the precedent for how America treats disaster survivors,” Rachel said.
Rob added, “It takes three minutes and could change the outcome for families across the country.”
Lest we forget the taxpayers money used to bail out the banks in 2008. The U.S. government authorized $443 billion to be disbursed for the TARP bailout. Tax payers money went to that charade. It’s about time the banks return the favor. Thank you Rob and Rachel!🥰